Lance laughed. “Those two paunchy timeservers? They’ve gone their own way. I’m glad we’re able to get together. I have some things to tell Ed, and it’s best if you hear them, too. Saves time.”

Stone picked up the phone and buzzed Ed.

“Yes?”

“Lance Cabot is in my office. I think it’s best to come down. Don’t worry, you won’t have to say anything, unless you want to.”

“Be right down,” Ed said, and hung up.

They sat quietly, trying not to stare at each other, until Ed walked into the office and sat down on the sofa across the room.

“Hello, Ed,” Lance said. “It’s been a very long time.”

“Copenhagen, wasn’t it?” Ed asked.

“In the Danny Kaye suite at the Hotel d’Angleterre, the one where the star stayed when they were filming Hans Christian Andersen.”

“I recall,” Ed said.

“Ed, you’ve been away from us for a long time, so I thought it might be a good idea if I reminded you of some old Agency practices and, perhaps, informed you of some newer ones.”

“I’m here to listen,” Ed said.

Stone gave him a thumbs-up by way of agreement.

“You will surely recall that the Agency requires its officers to submit any book or magazine material for approval before publication, even before showing such manuscripts to agents or publishers.”

“I have neither an agent nor a publisher,” Ed said.

“Only an attorney,” Stone said.

“And I am aware, Stone, that, with your wide acquaintance in New York, you are perfectly capable of representing Ed in his dealings with publishers.”

“Quite so,” Stone replied.

“Ed, our publishing policy has not changed. You may be aware that many manuscripts by former officers have been vetted and published.”

“Sure,” Ed said, “with a lot of black lines drawn through blocks of text.”

“What I hope is that, before you show a manuscript even to Stone, you will go through the text and draw those lines yourself.”

“You mean, you don’t want me to just blurt out everything I know about the Agency?”

“Certainly not, Ed, and you will know as well as anybody on our committee which passages require redacting.”

“I think what you mean, Lance, is that you don’t want even your committee to know what’s in the unexpurgated version.”

“That is so,” Lance said. “Information that is very sensitive has its way of spreading, and it spreads in proportion to the number of people who first possess it.”

“Perhaps there are things that present-day officers need to know about what their predecessors got up to.”

“We compartmentalize,” Lance said, “vertically as well as horizontally.”

“Every organization has a history,” Ed said. “What’s wrong with that?”

“We are not every organization,” Lance said firmly. “I think you are in a position to know that.”